Bringing you news and insights about Tribal Art, its creators and its collectors.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Speaking of Prices – What’s going on in downtown Santa Fe?

We used to chuckle when people would visit our Sanibel gallery, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, and comment that they loved our art but would wait until they visited Santa Fe, where the prices would be lower.

Obviously, those people had never been to Santa Fe. We have, and return regularly. It is a special place.

There is a certain cachet to buying tribal art in Santa Fe. But price isn't part of it.

We know that our prices, even when we had the physical gallery, were never higher than those in Santa Fe and usually lower.

We understand. Santa Fe is a high-rent district. Galleries there, as with all galleries everywhere, must pay their rent and their staff.

The money to do that must be baked into the price of every object of art they sell. There is no other way to do it.

Now we read in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that galleries and shops in downtown Santa Fe are in a crunch. Rents remain high but traffic is down, largely because of extensive construction downtown.

One gallery owner is quoted as saying, “Downtown Santa Fe has lost its vibrancy.”

We don’t want to dump on Santa Fe. We love the place. Its art, its culture, its dining and its climate truly make it “The City Different.”. We sincerely hope it recovers and quickly.

But rest assured that you don’t have to go to Santa Fe or even shop online with Santa Fe dealers to get quality, authentic, Native American jewelry, pottery, folk art and fetish carvings at excellent prices. And with service that you will tell your friends about.